A battery has at least one electrochemical cell that typically includes a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and an electrolyte. One type of battery, the lithium ion battery, has important technological and commercial applications. Lithium ion batteries are currently the dominant form of energy storage media for portable electronics, and new application areas such as hybrid and electric vehicles may further increase their demand. Improved material components for lithium ion batteries are therefore continually sought, and one such component is the battery cathode. New electrode materials have the potential to increase the capacity, rate capability, cyclability, stability, and safety of lithium ion batteries while potentially reducing their cost.
Current electrode materials, such as LiCoO2, LiFePO4, and LiMn2O4, suffer from some mixture of limited capacity, limited safety, limited stability, limited rate capability, and high cost. There is a need for electrode materials that have greater capacity, safety, rate capability, and stability than current materials, yet which are feasible for commercial production.